Without disclosing personal information, what are the reasons and experiences that led you to choose social work as a profession? I have always felt a calling to help people in my life, and I never wanted to be a person without a purpose. I feel social work will help me fulfill my purpose, because I can help individuals less fortunate. I first started my life of purpose by joining the military and giving back to my country. The military help me find my reason for giving back to individuals who were struggling being away from their families and coping with deployments.
After a few years in the active Army, I joined the Army Reserves as an Officer where I attended the University of Georgia. I decided on obtaining a degree in Political Science because I wanted to know how Policy works from the other side of government. This led me to being selected to the Washington semester program at UGA. I went to DC for a semester to intern for Congressman David Scott of Georgia’s 13th district. I truly felt happy for the first time in my life because I was helping the people of the 13th district with issues affected their livelihoods.
I observed first hand the decisiveness in government and how policy works from our nations capital. Constituents from the 13th district who would tell me all about their problems and ask me how was the Congressman was going to fix their issues. I learned from those moments of working on the Hill of our government’s inability to help those truly in need. I was troubled because I wanted to do more for those people in need. The future of our healthcare is clouded right now, and no one knows the direction on where we are headed.
Many of our Politicians don’t understand the actual people who are suffering in our country. Many of these politicians don’t understand the 15% of Americans who live below the poverty line, the 20% of the U. S. population affected by mental illness, the millions of children affected by child abuse, the people who suffer from drug and alcohol abuse, the difficulty of being a minority in a racial country, and the soldiers who suffer from PTSD. I feel to truly make a difference in the lives of people you have to understand their pain points.
I finally understand after 12 years my purpose is to be a social worker to help those people in need. I want to help people who suffer from the ailments I listed above. I see social work as a means to help all cope with the difficulties life presents. What are your social work career interests? I want to touch several different avenues within social work, and I understand the field is broad with many different career paths. My first step is to become a Medical Social Worker, because I want to focus on patient’s psychosocial needs of patients and not be limited to only one group.
I will make the most impact by caring for children, teens, adults, and seniors all at the same time. I will obtain my clinical license after I graduate to better assist my patience with psychotherapy. I will then join the Air force or Navy as Clinical Social worker to work with soldiers. I will perform clinical based assessments with soldiers and their families. I will do at least four years within the military to gain experience dealing with soldiers and clinical assessments. I will then continue to serve in the military or will transition to working for Veterans Affairs.
I will start working for the VA as well as working on political social work. My entire career path is to gain different experiences dealing with many aspects of social work. What are your personal strengths that you can bring to this profession? How have these strengths been demonstrated in the past? I believe my greatest strengths in my life are communication, leadership, and actively listening. The military helped bring out my strengths and reinforce my best qualities. People have always told me how attentive I am to their needs and how they are comfortable speaking with me.
I had to mentor many soldiers in the military about their life, problems and goals. I would also mentor them on anything concerning them in life whether it was dealing with a spouse, lost of a loved one, or finances. Soldiers’ problems are magnified because of the type of work performed. Being a soldier, is a 24/7 job and life comes second. Suicide is a major concern in the military because soldiers feel they don’t have anyone they can relate too and they are alone. People everywhere have scars and some of those scars are invisible to the naked eye.
I am comfortable enough in my own skin to make others feel comfortable in theirs. I strive every day to make myself a better man. I do that not only for my own benefit but the benefit of others. I am very self aware of my surroundings and how I come off to people. I am open to accept constructive criticism to improve on any flaws I may have. My ability of always improving myself, growing, and adapting to any situation is my greatest strength. I am dedicated to building my communication and public speaking skills. I am a member of the public speaking group Toastmasters.
I believe my strength of actually engaging a large group is crucial to helping others. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now in the field of social work? My main goal in the field of Social Work is to push policy in government to better assist fellow Social workers to their job more effectively. I will work in my job as a clinical social worker as well as volunteer in the United Foundation of Central Florida to help people in the community. I will combine my political acumen with social work to help create policy.
I will advocate for the thousands of social workers in the U. S. so they can better assist the people who are truly in need. We need people in Social work to have a voice in government to make the difference for the people. I will lobby on behalf of social workers everywhere to actually make a difference in policy. Many people in our government are about the praise without any action. In my opinion, politics and social work go hand in hand with each other. Policy molds how social workers perform their jobs. In 10 years, I will be a political social worker to help push policy within government.
I will help lead social workers to make more of a political presence in government. There are a few social workers in congress right now and more in lower government making a difference. This trend has to continue for a change to happen and stay effective. There are many groups out their wanting to line their own pockets out of greed, and their needs to be proud social workers standing up to those groups. What major social issue do you think that professional social workers should be concerned with? What is the role of social work in relation to this issue?
I believe the emergence of automation and robotics will have a profound effect on our economy and how it affects social workers. Mark Cuban and Bill Gates have been on record stating this is a serious problem that will eventually affect our economy within 10 years. I believe this is a major issue because automation and robotics are already taking jobs away from people as we speak. For example, manufacturing, retail, drivers, food preparation, administrative support, and sales are just a few jobs that will be affected. Both white and blue-collar jobs will be in jeopardy for Americans.
This will leave more American workers displaced in the workforce, leaving Social workers to help get people rehabilitated back to the workforce. Large American metropolitan areas may lose more than 55 percent of their current jobs due to automation. Automation does create some jobs but not as many as it takes. People below the poverty line and lower middle class will be most affected due to the skills needed to perform those jobs taken away by robots and automation. Companies are going this route because it saves them so much revenue on training, workers who don’t need rest, benefits, or raises.
Don’t be fooled, companies are already experimenting with different ideas. For example, Amazon has already started experimenting with stores that don’t need any workers. Wal-Mart is also experimenting with grocery stores with no employees. You just scan what is in you grocery cart with your phone and the charges are automatically deducted from your account. We as a country need to get ahead of the problem and wake up to the possibilities of our future. As a social worker, you will be expected to practice ethically according to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics https://www. ocialworkers. org/pubs/code/code. asp.
This includes working with diverse populations and clients whose values and beliefs may differ from your own. How you will incorporate and uphold the NASW Code of Ethics into your work with diverse populations? I believe the NASW Code of Ethnics aligns with my personal life. I as a minority find these Code of Ethnics are life rules everyone should follow. I could easily be homeless, impaired, unemployed, abused, or sick throughout my life. It is thanks to the most High I am able to function and live by these Code of Ethnics.
I have already been keen on following the core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. I follow service by performing community service with the United Foundation of Central Florida. I have been in Florida for 5 months and have performed numerous community service activities in the Orlando area. I have volunteered to help the homeless, mentor children, and organized March of Dimes fundraisers. I volunteered at the “ He Got Up” event at the Camping world Stadium back in April to help less fortunate people seek legal advice and find social justice.
I believe Dignity and worth of a person is crucial in today’s society, because no one should be treated differently due to their background. I whole hardily believe in treating people how you expect to be treated. Human relationships are important in finding a balance with each other. We can understand one another more if we are more acceptable to different view from our own. Integrity has always been an integral part of my life. I believe in doing the right thing when no one is watching is crucial to those within social work. I will practice competence by consistently honing my craft and seeking more knowledge.
